N.Korea says no inter-Korean talks unless S.Korea, U.S. end military drills

There will not be inter-Korean talks unless South Korea and the United States end joint military exercises that set North Korea as an "enemy," a senior official at Pyongyang's foreign ministry said on Sunday. Kwon Jong Gun, director-general for American affairs at the ministry, said South Korea talked "nonsense" by urging the North to stop missile tests which served its right to self-defense.

"Given that the military exercise clearly puts us as an enemy in its concept," Kwon said in a statement carried by state media KCNA. "They should think that an inter-Korean contact itself will be difficult to be made unless they put an end to such a military exercise or before they make a plausible excuse or an explanation in a sincere manner."